Benitez also spoke out about his regular meetings with Lee Charnley surrounding a potential takeover at his pre-match press conference today, however insisted on his preference to focus on footballing matters – Read the key points from his presser in full here.

Some unlikely claims have emerged from the capital late last night, with The London Economic claiming that Mike Ashley’s public plans to sell Newcastle United is only acting as cover-up to stop him spending money in the January transfer window – Read full story here.

On a more positive note, The Chronicle claim Staveley & co. are now half way through the due diligence phase, also revealing that the FA are ‘well aware’ of potential new ownership at NUFC and are awaiting a ‘fit and proper person’s test’ on a new owner – commonly known as a sign that a takeover is in the pipe-line! – Read story in full here.

On the transfer front, Sky Sports’ Spanish expert Guillem Balague has stated ‘there is nothing going on at all’ in response to rumours linking the Atletico Madrid veteran Fernando Torres with a move to Tyneside – Read full story here.

Back to tomorrow’s game,Jose Mourinho has revealed this afternoon that Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo are all ‘ready to play’ – a surprise suggestion the trio could now feature in tomorrow’s game at Old Trafford – Read Jose’s comments in full here.

Sammy Ameobi has opened up about his “brutally honest” conversation with Rafa Benitez last summer, being told he was not part of his plans and had to train with the reserves – also admitting that he regrets not putting in 100 per cent during his time on Tyneside – Read Sammy’s revealing interview here.

According to several reports in Turkey today, NUFC’s head of recruitment Steve Nickson has jetted out to watch long-standing striker target Cenk Tosun in Besiktas’ Super Lig clash with Akhisar tonight and their Champions League tie with Porto on Tuesday ahead of a potential €15m January bid – Read full story here.

Jose Mourinho has spoken out about the long-standing rivalry that has existed between himself and Rafa Benitez over the years, suggesting that his problem was between their clubs at the time more than it was with Benitez – Read Mourinho’s comments on Rafa in full here.

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